Shapovalov Turns Tables On Spaniard In New York

  • Posted: Sep 03, 2021

Seventh seed Denis Shapovalov dished up Grand Slam revenge and a shot-making masterclass against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena to book a third-round berth at the US Open on Thursday night.

In his fifth US Open, the Canadian advanced 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-0 in two hours and seven minutes to secure a showdown with unseeded South African Lloyd Harris. He notched 50 winners to his opponent’s 13, including nine aces, and won 85 per cent of first-serve points.

Carballes Baena sprung the upset in the pair’s only prior ATP Head2Head encounter – 8-6 in the fifth set of a five-hour thriller at Roland Garros last year. The No. 95 in the FedEx ATP Rankings set about a repeat of that boilover on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Thursday night when he held two set points at 6/4 in the opening-set tie-break.

Half of Shapovalov’s six double faults for the set came in the tie-break, but he was handed a lifeline when the Spaniard missed a forehand pass from mid-court on the first set point. It was the only reprieve Shapovalov needed as he eked out the first set after 65 minutes and dropped just three games more.

In July, the Canadian reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, where he defeated Andy Murray, Roberto Bautista Agut and Karen Khachanov en route. Since his deep run at the All England Club, the 22-year-old – who reached the quarter-finals in New York before a five-set defeat to Pablo Carreno Busta last year – had struggled on hard courts.

But after opening defeats to Frances Tiafoe on home soil in Toronto and to Benoit Paire in Cincinnati, he snapped a four-match losing streak and posted his first win as a Top 10 player against Federico Delbonis in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

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